HW Campaign: Great Wastelands II
Great Wastelands is the fifth mission in the campaign, which involves the Mothership Fleet exacting their revenge against the fleet from the Taiidan Empire that destroyed Kharak. Overview With the Turanic Raiders defeated, the Kushan Mothership has repaired the damage incurred by them and is en route to the location of the Taiidan fleet, while Karan S'jet thinks back to the destruction of Kharak. Research * Plasma Bomb Launcher - Leads to Attack Bombers * Defender Sub-Systems - Leads to Defenders Strategy Like the previous mission, this starts peaceful but as soon as the enemy fleet has detected your presence in this region, you'll be stuck in battle for a long period of time. So make sure to be prepared before jumping into battle with the Taiidan, they're a formidable force and won't go down without a fight! Fleet Intelligence will ask you to send a probe to the marked point deep within the resource vein here. However, to prepare for the battle, you'll want to harvest some resources first, so send the probe to a point 49km inside the resource rich area. This marker point designates the point in which you will trigger the Taiidan into battle, so don't go past the probe unless you are ready to fight the large attack force. At some point while you prepare, you'll be able to research the Plasma Bomb Launcher, though the Attack Bombers are weak and can be destroyed very quickly. When you are ready, build another probe and send it straight to the marker to begin the battle. The enemy fleet consists of 9 Assault Frigates, 3 Ion Cannon Frigates, 2 Destroyers, a single Carrier, and a large amount of strike craft with a Support Frigate. Although the fleet is powerful, they attack in fairly obvious "waves". Their strike craft can be strong against your own, but Heavy Corvettes will do the job of defending the fleet from them. Not long after the battle commences, the enemy will start harvesting the area. You need to stop them from doing so, as every resource the enemy harvests means less for you to take for your own fleet. Depending on your fleet size, you may find that they use two collectors. It is strongly recommended to use Attack Bombers on the collector's: any Ion Cannon Frigates may accidentally "ionise" the dust clouds, making them dangerous for your own ships to be within the resource areas. Once the collectors are destroyed, it's a simple case of taking out the groups of capital ships around the maps and then backing out before the next attack comes in. There are enemy Ion Frigates here as well and they're also guarded by Defenders. As soon as these new ships become visible, you'll be advised to research the Defender Sub-systems to produce your own. Once all frigates are defeated, you only need to deal with the Carrier and the enemy Destroyers. Be careful: the destroyer is a powerful Super Capital Ship that can decimate your fleet, but it makes for a very strong weapon in your fleet's arsenal. If you are feeling brave, consider capturing them to conserve on resources, as they cost a hefty amount when you receive them for yourself in the next mission. Also be careful when dealing with the carrier, while it doesn't pack as much firepower as the destroyer, it can easily destroy your frigates by running into them. Once the whole enemy fleet is defeated, build up your own fleet and harvest every resource the map has to offer. You'll want to go into the next mission with at least 10 Ion Frigates and 5 Support Frigates. If you captured them in this mission, the Destroyers can also prove to be very useful... ru:HW1 Миссия 5: Великая Пустошь Great Wastelands, Part II 05